The Atlanteans were by nature an inventive race, and over the early
centuries of their Empire, they developed most of the scientific advances
which have been also been made in the Western World throughout a longer
period of time. The development of science in their Empire was, however,
unique by virtue of the role of the Court of Ethics. This institution's
influence varied from era to era, but when it was flourishing, it
suppressed many new scientific ideas. As a result, the adoption of
scientific inventions into Atlantean society proceeded in fits and starts,
and was never able to sweep all before it as has happened in the modern
world since the time of the Renaissance.

THE COURT OF ETHICS

The idea of an overriding Court or Council of Ethics to act as a
supreme arbiter in all ethical, moral and social matters was developed by
thinkers in the third century. It was not till the reign of Iustos
Atlaniphon, in 368, that the first official Court of Ethics was set up. As
far as we are concerned in this chapter, its main role (apart from its
legal responsibilities as a Court of Appeal) was to weigh up the
potentialities of all new ideas and practical inventions as far as their
effect on the moral and social welfare of the Atlantean peoples was
concerned.

There would at this stage be no control or censorship of the expression
of ideas in words or writing - only of its possible future dissemination
or conversion into practical form in the case of new scientific
inventions. This was linked also to another of its roles - that of judging
all novel forms of behaviour or activities by the people - whether moral,
artistic, sporting or whatever. But here the Court could only express an
opinion ; in the case of new inventions, it could, with the Emperor's
approval, actually ban them.

This side of the Court's activities seems at first to sit uneasily
beside its more liberal role as a Court of Appeal and a sort of government
think-tank on legal matters. But the ethos of the Second Empire, though in
some ways liberal, was also paternalistic, and the Emperors and their
advisors were above all concerned to maintain their society as it was, and
of course their own positions within it. They did not want to censor
ideas, but they saw no reason not to screen and if necessary ban new
inventions, which, if adopted, might radically alter the set-up of
society, and the happiness of lifestyle of Atlanteans. This was all part
of that philosophy, which the Second Empire elite prized above all: that
Reason and Balance were vital in society, and this was best achieved by
severely limiting all unnecessary changes, social, moral and
technological. Men, too, were part of a whole natural order, which should
not be unbalanced by creating "unnatural" investigations into
nature, or technological innovations.

INVENTIONS AND THEIR FATE UNDER THE SECOND EMPIRE

Some of the most significant inventions in early
Atlantean history were military in nature, though it must be stressed that
some of them were not actually made by Atlanteans, but rather were taken
over by them from whoever first invented them. The inventions made before
360 were quickly adopted - such as the wooden and steel crossbow and the
catapult. But most important innovations, once they had come to the notice
of the Court of Ethics, were usually suppressed, though there were a few
exceptions. Thus printing using blocks was invented somewhere in the late
200s and used a little in Atlantis in the 300s, but was then banned.
Printing using moveable type appeared outside the Atlantean Empire after
480, but as soon as examples appeared within the Empire, they were also
forbidden.

Other inventions vetoed include the microscope or magnifying glass
(around 500), spectacles (about 420-430), water-wheels (400s), and
gunpowder/rockets (used in fireworks after the 400s, outside the Empire).
On the other hand, the telescope, though closely related to the banned
magnifying glass, was allowed into production after 530 for military use.
The same was true of the mechanical semaphore, relays of which rapidly
spread across the Empire after 460, and the windmill, which was
surprisingly permitted in the 500s.

THE HEYDAY OF INVENTIONS, 587-650

When the Second Empire was overthrown and the Republic established
after 587, the Court of Ethics was abolished in the territories under
republican control. The Republic considered the "censoring" role
of the Court to be ridiculously old-fashioned and pointless, and
inventions were henceforth encouraged. Quickly all those innovations made
and suppressed in earlier times were released from their wraps - printing
(though Government controlled at various times), spectacles, microscope
and water-wheels. In the remaining territory of the Emperor, the Court of
Ethics at first still kept its powers, but as the old Empire split up and
the Imperialists noticed how fast the Republicans were overtaking them in
the field of new inventions, the Court was done away with here as well,
and innovations were seized on as quickly as possible.

Gunpowder, as applied to military weapons, had already been
experimented with by the Basquecs, and these ideas were taken over by the
Imperialists even quicker than by the Republicans. This led to rockets,
cannon and handguns coming into production around 590-600 - the great
Atlantean inventor and adapter was Ceindol. Many other inventions were
adopted in this period, including the magnetic compass, the technique of
cast iron, stirrups for horses, the pendulum clock, the barometer, and the
basics of the steam engine. Many of these were actually invented abroad,
but the clock, the steam-engine, cast-iron and the compass were definitely
of Atlantean origin. (Bueccan, who lived in Tilrase in the Republican
Province of Atlantid´eh , was the Atlantean theorist who wrote about the
practical possibilities of steam. He was killed in 628 when the
Imperialists stormed Atlantis.)

This heady period of innovation came to an abrupt end after 650, when
the establishment of the Third Empire by Ruthopheax produced strict
controls on all inventions once again - this time also in neighbouring
states.